S. 1817: Drone Infrastructure Inspection Grant Act

This bill establishes programs within the Department of Transportation (DOT) to support the use of small, unmanned aircraft systems (commonly known as drones) when inspecting, operating, maintaining, repairing, modernizing, or constructing road infrastructure, electric grid infrastructure, water infrastructure, or other critical infrastructure.

Specifically, DOT must award grants to state, tribal, or local governments; metropolitan planning organizations; or groups of those entities to purchase or otherwise use drones to support the inspection, operation, construction, maintenance, modernization, or repair of critical infrastructure to increase efficiency, reduce costs, improve worker and community safety, or reduce carbon emissions related to critical infrastructure projects. Grant recipients must use domestically manufactured drones that are not made by certain foreign entities, including companies subject to influence or control from China or Russia.

DOT must also award grants to certain institutions of higher education for training students for careers using drones and related technologies.

Written by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.